The former director resigned this summer amid an investigation and scrutiny on the Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center.
DALLAS — The Dallas County Juvenile Board on Friday named the county’s next director of juvenile services.
County officials had been searching for a new full-time director since former director Darryl Beatty resigned in July after investigative reports from WFAA on allegations of mistreatment at the Dallas County Juvenile Detention Center.
County officials announced H. Lynn Hadnot, who serves as director of juvenile services in Collin County, will start work as Dallas County’s new director of juvenile services in early 2025.
Mike Griffiths, who’d previously led the department for 15 years before he’d retired in 2010, has served as interim director.
“The focus of this past year-and-a-half has been on the Dallas County Detention facility, which is but one component of Juvenile Justice service delivery. The Juvenile Department encompasses so much more than Detention and there is much that this Juvenile Department does well. It is our expectation that Mr. Hadnot will correct deficiencies and build further on the services that are done well in Dallas,” a letter from Dallas County Juvenile Board chair Judge Cheryl Lee-Shannon reads. “The board is excited about the department’s future and expects that we will again be a premier Texas Juvenile Department. Mr. Hadnot is the person to accomplish this and move the department forward.”
Multiple former and current employees shared photos with WFAA in June showing unsanitary conditions at the Juvenile Detention Center, and provided documents showing the juvenile inmates, who range in ages from 11 to 18 years old, were out of their cells for only an hour or two and didn’t go to school.
An investigation from the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, which released a report on the issue this fall, also found officers at a juvenile detention center in Dallas kept children isolated for days and falsified records of observation checks and school attendance.
Beatty’s resignation in July came after sources told WFAA that the Texas Juvenile Justice Department performed a surprise inspection at the facility and continued to find problems.
Shortly before his resignation, Beatty had called the allegations about the treatment of juvenile suspects and conditions of the facility “categorically false” during a news conference.
Hadnot is expected to be officially appointed as director by the Juvenile Board at the boar’s Jan. 27, 2025 meeting.